$178 Million Smart Grid Project Launches In Northwest

Jamie Rowe, a graduate student at the University of Washington, shows Senator Maria Cantwell how personal energy monitoring technology works.

KUOW Photo/Ashley Ahearn

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The University of Washington got its launch Wednesday as the country's biggest testing ground for smart grid technology.

Smart grid is a catch-all term for something power providers are still trying to figure out — namely, how do you use modern technology, like the Internet, to manage how much power is flowing through the grid at any given time?

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